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A Plano woman has been indicted on a charge of capital murder in the death of a 2-year-old girl in her care.

A Collin County grand jury issued the indictment Tuesday for Melinda Lynn Muniz. The 25-year-old is accused of killing Grace Lillian Ford, who died Jan. 12 of homicidal violence, including suffocation, according to an autopsy.

Muniz is being held on $1 million bail at the Collin County jail.

Muniz had been engaged to marry Grace’s father, Mitch Ford, and had been caring for the toddler in the couple’s Plano apartment. The two were in the process of breaking up, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Plano police were called to the apartment on the afternoon of Jan. 9 by Ford, who had been talking by phone to Muniz when he heard screams from Muniz and his daughter.

Grace Lillian Ford

Muniz initially told police that she and Grace were attacked by an intruder, but much of what she said did not add up with the evidence that police found, the affidavit stated. Grace had duct tape over her mouth and was not breathing when police arrived. She died days after the attack.

CPS had been called several times for incidents involving Grace, but the allegations were either ruled out or unable to be determined. Ford and Grace’s biological mother, Emily Ward, were fighting in district court for custody of the girl.

A Granbury man was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury convicted him of capital murder in the death of his mother.

Collin County jurors deliberated about four hours before finding Thomas Grady Layton guilty of fatally shooting 64-year-old Grada Layton of Plano during the course of a robbery.

Prosecutors say Thomas Layton, 48, talked often about wanting his mother dead. He was unemployed and addicted to drugs, so she supported him financially. He shot her in the back of the head and in the chest as she dozed one night in a recliner in her Plano home in May 2010. Prosecutors believe his motive was to get access to her money but say no one will ever know for sure why he did it. Layton took some items from the house to make it look like a robbery. Then he took his mother’s debit card and credit cards and went on a spending spree. “He couldn’t wait for her to die,” prosecutor Thomas Ashwood said.

Defense attorneys freely admitted Layton used drugs. But smoking meth, living off his mother’s generosity and talking like a sailor doesn’t make him guilty of murder, defense attorney Robbie McClung said. She tried to cast doubt on the testimony of Layton’s stepson, who told jurors and police that Layton confessed to him about to killing his mother.

The gun used in the shooting, believed to belong to Grada Layton, was never recovered. But Layton’s stepson testified that he saw Layton filing down bullets before the shooting to interfere with any future ballistics testing. The bullets recovered from the scene were marred.

In an interview with a Plano detective, Layton discussed the last time he saw his mother. But he denied borrowing a friend’s car and heading to Plano, even though a surveillance video from a Benbrook 7-Eleven captured him there in the middle of the night with a flat tire. Layton’s stepson said that was the night Layton killed his mother.

When his mother’s body hadn’t been discovered after several days, Layton called police for a welfare check. The responding officer reported no visible signs of a problem and no reason to force his way into the home. Police asked Layton to come to Plano and check on his mother himself.

He called 911 shortly after midnight on May 30 to report she was dead, her body badly decomposed. She had to be identified through dental records.

A 48-year-old Granbury man is on trial this week, accused of fatally shooting his mother at her Plano home in May 2010 and then taking several items, including rare coins, her debit card and a pair of Oakley sunglasses.

Thomas Grady Layton is charged with capital murder in the death of 64-year-old Grada Layton during the course of a robbery. He has pleaded not guilty. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutor Paul Anfosso told Collin County jurors on Tuesday that Layton constantly talked about killing his mother, but no one took him seriously. One night three years ago, he came to visit his mother, they watched TV together, and then he killed her as she sat in her recliner, Anfosso said.

Defense attorney Richard Franklin said Layton was unemployed, depended on his mother for money and had no motive to kill her. “The stupidest thing he could do is get rid of his mother,” Franklin said. He told jurors that prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to prove their case and asked that they pay attention to others who may have had motive to kill the Plano woman.

Another factor in the case is Thomas Layton’s drug use and criminal record. Plano police have said Layton was on parole for a 25-year sentence for marijuana delivery when he helped arrange a drug deal outside a McDonald’s on April 21, 2010. Police found nearly 6 grams of meth, a glass pipe and a digital scale in his Pontiac. Two others were charged that night with delivery of methamphetamine.

A drug-related charge may have kept Layton in jail for awhile. But he was arrested only on an outstanding warrant for not wearing a seat belt. He was free when his mother was found dead five weeks later.

Just after 8 p.m. May 29, 2010, Layton called 911, asking for a welfare check because he couldn’t get ahold of his mother. He told the dispatcher that he needed money from her. A Plano police officer checked the house. He found nothing suspicious from the outside and no answer at the door. Police asked Layton to make the drive from Granbury to check inside the home for his mother and call back if there were any problems.

Layton made another 911 call a few minutes after midnight to report finding his mother dead. Grada Layton was found in the living room, her body badly decomposed. The medical examiner’s office later determined she had been shot once in the head and once in the chest. Dental records confirmed her identity.

A Collin County grand jury has indicted a man on a capital murder charge in the death of his former girlfriend’s stepfather.

Christopher James Holder, 28, is being held at the Collin County jail on $1 million bail. He’s accused of fatally beating 50-year-old Billy Joe Tanner to death in his Plano home on Nov. 10 and trying to cover up the crime by setting a fire.

Tanner lived with his stepdaughter and her two children at the house in the 3100 block of Royal Oaks Drive in Plano. A police affidavit states Holder, who was a tattoo artist in Irving, had lived there for several months while dating the stepdaughter. Holder moved out when the couple broke up about two weeks before Tanner’s death.

Plano police say a man arrested in Tarrant County on burglary charges in January admitted to being at Tanner’s home with Holder and provided key details about the crime, such as the attempt to burn the body, the items taken from the scene and the location of Tanner’s truck.